Apparatus for displaying price-cards



No. 609,359. Patented Aug. l6, I898. J. S. MENAGH.

APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING PRICE CARDS.

(Application filed Apr. 30, 1897.)

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSfie et l.

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N0. 609.359. Patented Aug. l6, I898. J. S. MENAGH.

APPARATUSFDR DlSPLAYING PRICE CARDS.

(Application filed Apr. 30. 1897.)

(No Model) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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JOHN S. IVIENAGH, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING PRICE-CARDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 609,359, dated August .16, 1898.

Application filed April 30, 1897- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN S. MENAGH, acitizen of the United States, residing at Jersey City, county of Hudson, State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Im provements in Apparatus for Displaying Price-Cards, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accom-j panying drawings, formingapart of the same.

In hard ware stores and others where alarge variety of articles is carried in stock as shelf goods it is common to secure price-cards at intervals upon the front of the shelving to indicate the prices of the goods, and it is also common to mount a ladder upon rollers to slide along the front of the shelves for'use in reaching the goods.

The object of the present invention is to furnish an improved means of mounting the price-cards upon the front of theshelving, so that the cards may project within more convenient reach of the salesman and may be turned into different directions to secure the best light thereon. These objects are accomplished by means of a frame or casing of particular construction adapted to hold the pricecards removably and pivoted upon a bracket or brackets projected from the front of the shelves.

To mount the casing between the shelf and v ladder and enable it to clear the shelf goods,

I hinge the casing upon the bracket by eccentric pivots and project it into the path of the ladder, by which construction the nearer edge of the casing is enabled to clear the shelf goods, while the pivoting of the casing enables it to turn automatically when pushed by the ladder in moving the same past the point where the casing is pivoted.

The particular construction will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side View of a roller-ladder with the adjacent part of the shelves and casing. Figs. 2 to 5 show the casing upon a larger scale, Fig. 2 being a front elevation with one side partially opened and a price-card partially removed, Fig. 3 being a' plan, and Fig. 4 an edge View. Fig. 5 is a cross-section on line 4 4 in Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a perspective view I of the casing with one bracket-support, and

Fig. 2.

Serial No. 634,527. (No model.)

Fig. 7 is a section of the molding for the margin of the casing.

The shelving consists of the upright supports Aand the shelves A. B designates the closets frequently employed to form a counter at the base of the same, and 0 represents the sliding ladder, having rolls cl fitted to a rail 6 upon the front of the shelves and rolls d to rest upon the counter B.

In Fig. 1, F designates a casing having pivots Gat opposite ends, fitted to brackets H H, projected from the front of the shelves at the upper and lower ends of the casing. The casing is formed of rectangular shape, with body consisting of a flat board f (see Fig. 5) and .marginal molding f, secured permanently upon three sides of the board and made detachable upon the fourth side to insert and remove the price-cards. (See Fig. 2.)

The marginal molding is formed with groove 9 at the middle upon the inner side to fit the edges of such board, and the molding is formed at the edges of such groove with ra bbets hto retain a pane of glass Z and a price-card Z upon each of the opposite sides of the body.

The casing is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the strip f across the middle and is made of suitable length to admit a price-card and pane of glass above and below such strip, and the strip would be rabbeted like the edges of the molding f to retain the card and glass in place, as shown in Fig. 2. The molding at one side of the casing is made entirely loose to furnish a detachable cover to the grooves in the rabbet's h. A convenient meansof securing the cover is shown in Figs. 2 and 4, where the upperend of the cover is attached to the molding at the top of the casing by a hinge having straps z, and the lower end of the cover is attached to the molding at the bottom of the casing by similar straps j, having a loose pintle k to connect them at pleasure. WVhen the pin'tle is withdrawn, as shown in Fig. 2, the cover may be thrown entirely upward, as indicated in dotted lines F in Fig. 1, and the cards may then be withdrawn from the rabbets, as is indicated by the lowercards in the casing in The casing is shown in'Figs. 1 and 2 provided with pivots G at its upper and lower ends, and Fig. 1 shows brackets H, extended laterally from such pivots and attached to the vertical supports of the shelving.

The pivots are not aliixed centrally upon the top and bottom of the casing, but eccentrically, so as to permit the narrower side of the casing a (without projecting the brackets unduly) to clear the front of the shelves, andthus avoid obstruction from any articles m which accidentally project from the shelves, as shown in Fig. 1.

The sliding ladder is commonly arranged to move within eight or nine inches of the shelves, and such eccentric disposition of the pivots avoids the projection of the brackets into the path of the ladder, while the wider side of the casing, which projects into such path, is pushed out of the way automatically by the ladder when the same is moved past the casing.

In Fig. 6 is shown a casing adapted to sustain a single price-card and glass upon each side and supported by a single bracket having a fixed pivot-stud h, projected from such bracket vertically through the body of the casing. The pivot is shown projected downward and extended entirely through the flat board f of the casing and furnished with a nut 7&2 upon the end, bywhich construction the bracket may be fixed at either the top or bottom of the casing and hold the same so that it may be turned with either side outward or facing in either direction, as may be required to suit the position of the person consulting the same or the light which may come from any special direction. The casing in this construction is subjected to very rough usage by its contact with the ladder and therefore requires the flat body f, as described above, to hold the molding rigidly upon three sides and maintain its strength and durability, while one side is made detachable to change the price-cards.

The detachable side is shown in Fig. 6 secured by screws n. The casing claimed herein requires a marginal molding of special pattern for use with the central flat body F; but as the grooves and rabbets of such molding are all upon one side it may be readily made by suitable cutters in wood-molding machines in large quantities, and thus furnished for manufacturing such casings at very moderate cost.

I do not claim herein a frame made merely of molding with one side open, as I am aware that such frames have long been used where achange in the contents of the frame has been necessary, and I am also aware that in photographic plate-holders it is common to apply a sensitive plate to each side of such holders, with a loose septum between the plates and a movable slide to expose the same when required. Neither do I claim the mere pivoting of a frame to expose the opposite sides, but the particular arrangement of vertical pivots and brackets in relation to the shelf-support and the moving ladder by which I am enabled to support the casing before the shelving and avoid interference with the frame of a roller-ladder.

Where a frame is made with one side open, it is obvious that it is poorly adapted to receive pivots in the top and bottom, as the only support for such a frame and the weight of its contents would be the joints at two of the corners.

To sustain the rough usage which a pricecard frame is subjected to, in my invention I make the flat board f to be substantially the body of the frame and use the marginal molding only to retain the glass and pricecards upon the opposite sides of the frame.

By attaching the marginal moldings rigidly to three sides of the flat board I impart the strength of the board to the moldings at the top and bottom of the frame, and thus render them firm and strong where the pivots are attached thereto. By this construction the casing may be projected into the path of the ladder and safely left in any position, as it is fitted to receive the impact of the ladder when it is moved past the bracket and operates to turn the casing upon its pivot.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim herein is- 1. A casing for displaying price-cards, comprising the flat boardf having the four marginal moldings f attached to the edges, the molding being provided with central groove 9 and with rabbets h at the opposite edges of such groove, and the moldings being secured IOO permanently upon three edges of the flat board f, and at the fourth side secured at one corner by a hinge and at the opposite corner by a detachable fastening, the rabbets upon such removable side being adapted to cover the edges of the price-cards Z and glass Z when inserted in the opposite sides of the casing, and the flat board f holding the molding upon three sides rigidly in position when the fourth side is open, substantially as herein set forth. 1 IO 2. The combination, with shelving or other vertical support, of a casing for displaying price-cards, comprising the flat board f having marginal moldingsf secured permanently upon three of its edges, and detachably upon 1 I 5 the fourth edge, the molding being provided with central groove g and with rabbets h at the opposite edges of such groove, and the casing having pivots fixed eccentrically upon the top and bottom moldings, and brackets :20 being projected from the shelving or vertical support and engaged with such pivots, substantially as herein shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN S. MENAGH. WVitnesses:

M. M. DU BoIs, THOMAS S. CRANE. 

